Welcome to November!
Please note that Seventh Wave at the Castle will be closed until 6th November for works.
Upon arrival there were clear skies. One Robin sat upon the barbed wire beside the water trough in south field. Branch tips of Ash trees at the Small Copse swayed in the wind. Two Blackbirds “clucked” from within a hedgerow beside the small copse. Herring Gull were heard inland as were both braying horses and a cockerel I assume from California Farm. Likewise I could hear an excavator involved in the quarrying of stone. Two Skylarks briefly passed overhead. Dew decorated small delicate spiders webs intended to capture ground crawling insects. Such was the mist that rolled in it that I lost sight of a yapping white dog further up the valley! A few Oxeye Daisies and pale Red Clover punctuated the Tor Grass (which my feet crunched though) upon the wares. Field Mushroom and Stomach (Puff Ball) fungi popped upon within the sward. Flying insects were represented by an unidentified Bee at the Centre and several Bumble Bees. Both Sycamore and Dandelion still had seeds yet to be dispersed on the wind.
This autumn I have yet to see the large flocks of Woodpigeon, however, two score decorated tree tops within the gully. It appeared that a steady stream of individual Woodpigeon headed to the same location. An inventible dozen Jackdaw sat upon the coastal down-land, although later the occupied and cackled from the Sycamore beside Lighthouse Road Bridge. An unseen bird wittered away beneath a blanket of Old Man’s Beard. Likewise one heard the echoing calls of a Green Woodpecker that flew up the gully.
Standing at Lighthouse Green side of the Gully all I could see on the opposite side was the scrub and rock outcrops within the down-land. All this was framed in mist. And despite the proximity the Lighthouse appeared in silhouette.
Fortunately Mr Murray saw much more than I (no surprise there then!)
Some 300 Linnet, Goldfinch 250, Skylark 50 +, Redwing 60, Stock Dove 20, Siskin 12, Bullfinch 8, Tree Sparrow 7 and a Merlin!
At the Quarr I looked toward where the Lighthouse should be and saw the overhead wires appear to vanish in the mist!
Today's diary written by Paul Jones